Good morning to you my ‘Walking with Jesus” friends,
When you hear the word KINDNESS what thoughts come into your mind? A mother and child, a young boy helping an older widow, a husband bringing flowers home to his wife but there is no special occasion!? Did you know a spiritual word for kindness is GRACE? Did you know GRACE is one of the great attributes of God? God’s kindness to humanity knows no bounds, no limits. God seems to never weary of handing out His lovingkindness, His Grace, to an ungrateful, undeserving human race that most often ignores God or sometimes outright rejects God!
Pause for a moment and consider how much GRACE or Kindness God has lavishly poured out on you during your lifetime. In fact, perhaps now is a good time for a prayer break… why not take a few moments just to thank God for His Kindness to you.
These days we are looking closely at one of the most powerful statements in God’s Word the Bible about the word LOVE. In Paul’s letter to the Christians in Corinth Paul writes this in his 13th chapter describing a love that is God honoring and possible only with the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives: “Love is PATIENT, Love is KIND, Love does not envy, and it does not boast…”
Yesterday we looked at the first little phrase “Love is Patient”, today let’s take the rest of that sentence. How do you recognize and measure kindness? And can you tell the difference between generic kindness and kindness wrapped in love? And where do you suppose Loving Kindness is conceived… how is it nurtured before it is poured out on someone? Seems to me lovingkindness is conceived deep in the heart of someone at peace. At peace with themselves, at peace with God, at peace with their past and their future.
Maybe a good word for this would be CONTENTMENT. I’m sure you’ve experienced many times of CONTENTMENT in your life, but if you are like me and most all of us, you’ve also experienced times of anxiety or worry or outright fear, right? So, I guess this begs the question, what are those things which contribute to your CONTENTMENT?
What does Jesus say to us about this? “Your Father in heaven knows what you need, even before you ask Him!” (Matt. 6:8a) “Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?” (Matt. 6:27) “Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you… Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish will give him a snake? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to our children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask Him!” (Matt. 7:7-11)
Do you hear Jesus explaining some of the root of CONTENMENT in God? It’s a confidence that HE knows us better than we know ourselves, because He created us and sustains our lives every moment, 24×7. It’s also a confidence that God loves us more than we love ourselves and He can see past, present and future perfectly, so God knows all that has contributed to this moment and everything about your future and mine for all eternity!
So, my friends, can we see that if we build our lives on these truths, we will have a God given contentment in life and in the absence of worry or fear or doubt we can be a source of wonderful, loving Kindness to others!? Now let’s Pause and Ponder that powerful statement!
Do we also know ourselves well enough that we know what steals our contentment and robs us of the desire to pour out loving kindness upon others? So easily we find ourselves focused on US, our wants, our hopes, our dreams, our desires in life, that there’s little room in our lives for God to infuse an interest in others. And would you consider that as God pours His loving kindness into our lives, He is pouring upon us much more than we need.
Why the excess? So, as we become aware of those around us who are in need of encouragement or some unexpected Loving Kindness, we can pour out to them what we have received from God! So, in addition to contentment, may I help you see one other great source of Loving Kindness? It’s gratitude! As thankfulness is a daily overflow of our hearts to God for all His goodness, His loving kindness poured out upon us, guess what? The overflow of gratitude will spill out on others in the form of Loving Kindness, GRACE! And if you’ve ever been on the receiving end of this, you know how unexpected kindness can change your day, your outlook on life and even your relationships! Am I right?
So, friends let’s pause and ponder. When God says “Love is KIND, love does not envy, love does not boast” can we agree with a full heart? Envy is the enemy of Gratitude, Contentment and Kindness because envy is focused on me and my selfish desires! I fight envy with contentment that God knows my needs and will meet my needs according to His goodness and His best for me! I reject envy knowing it is a trap of the devil leading me to mistrust God and take responsibility for myself, pursuing my own desires and goals, and elevating my needs above anyone else’s needs. That thinking kills kindness, especially loving kindness!
And one last powerful statement in this phrase. Love does not BOAST. Boast draws attention to me. Boast elevates me above others. Boasting is the outflow of the pride deep within my heart. Boasting pushes God away because as I boast I rise up calling all to look at me, and when I demand their attention, they must turn away from God to focus on me! That, of course kills loving kindness and produces envy.
So, friends, let’s Pause and Ponder… what is God showing you and me about the true condition of our hearts? Is loving kindness being produced deep within us or do we see the rise of envy or selfish boasting.
May I challenge us this day to speak loving KINDNESS to every person we meet? May I urge us to reject any urge of envy which rises up in us, thanking Jesus that we can fully trust Him to know and do what is best for us!? Here’s a song to help us learn to live like this every day…
Today’s Scripture is 1 Corinthians 13:1-5.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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